100 Theme Challenge: Green Street Hooligans
by carriesagun
Summary: 100 themes, 100 fics of varying length and genres, all about everyone's favourite firm, and featuring my OC, Ebony.
1. Chapter 1

**100 Theme Challenge from deviantArt (information found here)**

**Fandom **– For this part, it's Green Street

**Rating** – PG-15 for swearing

**Characters** – OFC, Steve Dunham, Pete Dunham, Mrs Dunham

**Disclaimer** – I don't own Green Street, and I'm not making a penny from this. It's all just for fun, I hope you enjoy it.

**Summary** – Meeting the parents can be nerve racking. A short little ficlet about how Steve introduced Ebony to Mrs Dunham.

**001 – Introduction**

Steve smiled as he walked up the path, ignoring the was that his girlfriend was pulling back on his hand, making whimpering noises as she resisted his attempts to pull her up the path. "Ebbs, c'mon, work with me here."

"No means no," she snapped back, finally freeing herself from his grasp and heading for the pavement.

"You've met my parents before, what's so different now?"

"Urm, I'm now your girlfriend? That, to me, makes it fucking different!" she replied, standing with her arms crossed and looking stubborn.

"No, it's the same you idiot. They love you, and so does Pete," Steve coaxed, watching her facial expression change for a second.

"That is not the point. Not in the slightest, in fact. Please can we just go to the Abbey?" Steve gave her a look and she looked guiltily back.

"Ebbs, it's lunch with my parents, how bad could it be?" he asked her quietly. She hated how reasonable he sounded, and she stuck her tongue out childishly and took another step backwards towards the road. "Don't step back again, you'll get yourself killed."

"It's better than lunch with your parents." Steve's temper flared instantly, and he forced himself to take a steadying breath before answering her.

"Fine. I'll go and have lunch with my parents, you go and do whatever the fucking hell you want," he snapped, turning on his heel and striding into the house. He stopped the other side of the door and watched her through the peephole, shifting from foot to foot and considering her options. He opened the door and was half flattened when she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek.

"Let's not argue. Neither of us have the right humour or disposition to argue with one another," she said quietly, and he laughed.

"Good point there. You know, we could just-"

"Mum! Ebony and Stevie-Weevie are snogging again!" Steve and Ebony broke apart and looked up the stairs, at the top of which stood a 12-year old Pete with his arms crossed. "That's gross!" The couple exchanged glances before charging up the stairs, grabbing Pete between them and carrying him down the stairs, tossing him onto the sofa. Ebony pinned his hands down while Steve knelt beside him, tickling him unmercifully. "Gerooff! Gerrooofff mee!" he winged in between laughs. "Mum! SAVE ME!"

"I think that's your just rewards, Petey," the woman replied with a laugh as she walked past them to stir the curry she was making for dinner.

"Do you think he's suffered enough?" Steve asked Ebony, who shook her head sadly.

"I think another good thirty seconds should do it," she added, winking at him before starting to tickle Pete's sides as Steve went for his feet.

"GEROFF!" Pete yelped. "Fine, fine, FINE! I give up! You two snog all you want!" The ticklers abruptly stopped and let the young lad up, giggling to themselves as he ran to tell his mum what they'd done.

"You're mean," they both said to the other at the same time, smiling at one another. They stepped towards one another, but were interrupted.

"Well? Aren't you going to introduce us?"


	2. Chapter 2

**033 – Seeing Red**  
100 Theme Challenge from deviantArt (information found here)  
**Fandom **– For this part, it's Green Street  
**Rating **– PG-15 for swearing  
**Characters** – OFC, Steve Dunham, Shannon Buckner  
**Disclaimer** – I don't own Green Street, and I'm not making a penny from this. It's all just for fun, I hope you enjoy it.  
**Summary –** Sometimes a good fight can solve problems. Other times, it can just make you feel good.

Ebony stared at the huge mountain of boxes crowding her small living room, frowning at the one marked 'Steve's Important Stuff'. She pulled a permanent marker out of her pocket and scribbled out the letters 'tuff' off the end, replacing them with 'hit' instead. Laughing a little at her prank, she went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of cider, pulling the top off with her bare hands and tossing it in the sink.

She was glad Steve was moving out; she could walk around in her underwear and not be hounded for sex, she could shave her legs in peace and not have to explain exactly why she wanted chocolate or what she would do to him if he withheld her sweet lover from her. And she wouldn't have to put up with his moping around – now he was that Stupid Fucking Yank Cow's problem.

"Where'd you want this one, love?" She looked at the moving man and smiled as he held up a lamp. She went over to him, took the lamp out of his hand and threw it against the wall, narrowly missing Steve as he appeared in the doorway to pick up another box.

"What the fuck?" he shouted, and Ebony smiled sardonically.

"I hate that lamp," she replied simply, shrugging and turning to lean against the back of the sofa.

"I loved it! M'dad left that to me!" he retorted, and the moving man hurriedly grabbed a box and left quickly, not wanting to get into the middle of any argument.

"And you left this to me," Ebony responded, taking the simple engagement ring off her finger and throwing it at Steve hard enough to slightly break the skin on his cheek. "How is the Stupid Fucking Yank Bitch doing?"

"Fine, thank you," Steve growled back through clenched teeth. Ebony toasted to them with a wave of her cider bottle before taking a sip. "You are a sore loser."

"You are an eye sore," she quipped back, and Steve looked taken aback. "Does she whistle the Star Spangled Banner when you two fuck?" She narrowly missed the vase he threw at her, only escaping injury by falling back onto the seat of the sofa to dodge it.

"Don't you _ever _say that," Steve hissed and she scrambled to her feet, silently mourning her spilt cider as she considered what to say next.

"Your reasons for leaving are shit, Steve, I'm entitled to a little mockery of your Stupid Yank Bitch," she sighed and his jaw tightened. "Don't you want to-" she was cut off by a decorative plate whizzing through the air, narrowly missing her head. She went to the nearest box, ripped it open and pulled a cup out of it, hurling it in Steve's general direction.

"Fuck OFF!" he shouted, throwing a large jug. It smashed beside Ebony, a few small pieces of ceramic embedding in her bare legs. She retaliated by throwing a crystal vase her brother had given them for their moving in party. This time she managed to hit Steve mid-chest, sending him sprawling backwards into the wall. He coughed weakly, but recovered and threw a china horse ornament, giggling a little when it smashed against the wall by Ebony's head.

She picked up a statue of a duck and lobbed it as hard as she could, wincing a little as her trick shoulder gave. Steve looked around for something to throw and found himself out of ammunition, so threw himself across the room and pinned her. She punched him and moved away, falling flat on her face as she tripped over a box. He was on top of her in an instant, and they grappled with one another, making soundless frustrated noises as they fought to get on top of the other.

Steve pinned the arm with the trick shoulder and Ebony kicked his faulty ankle out from under him, rolling them over. "Ah-ha!" she yelled, then yelped as Steve bent her little finger on her right hand, collapsing her arm and bringing her to the floor. "Shit," she panted, laying on her back next to him and staring at the ceiling. "I hate you."

"I hate you, too," Steve gasped, trying to catch his breath.

"Steve?" Ebony giggled, hearing the American accent, then laughed harder at the way Steve leapt to his feet to tell the Stupid Fucking Yank Bitch that he was ready to go. He picked up the box Ebony had fallen over and left without a word, hardly noticing the caterwauling laughter that echoed from the flat. She heard the door close downstairs and got to her feet, glancing at the mess their little spat as she went to the kitchen to pull shards of porcelain out of her legs.

"Cleaning or Drinking?" she pondered as she pulled the last shard out, tossing it into the bin and checking her watch. "Drinking," she decided, springing to her feet and heading for the Abbey. She'd deal with the mess later.


	3. Chapter 3

**050 – Party**  
100 Theme Challenge from deviantArt (information found here)  
**Fandom **– For this part, it's Green Street  
**Rating **– PG-15 for swearing  
**Characters** – OFC, Steve Dunham, Terry  
**Disclaimer** – I don't own Green Street, and I'm not making a penny from this. It's all just for fun, I hope you enjoy it.  
**Summary –** Ebony was not impressed; being dragged to a school disco when the Hammers were playing on the telly? But maybe a certain blonde could make the night worth the effort.

Breathe. In, out, slowly. Remember how to do this now? "EBONY! Where's my little girl?" Her Dad was frantic; in the fray, Ebony and he had become separated. Ebony opened her mouth but only managed a squeak that was easily covered by the yelling around her, and she was certain that she would never breathe again. Damn, damn and shit! She muttered to herself. All of a sudden, her lungs suddenly remembered what they were there for, and she drew in a great gulp of air before rolling onto her front and scrambling to her feet, a little unsteady, but upright. She coughed, and having just caught her breath was nearly choked by the hug her father gave her as he pulled her against his broad chest. "WHERE D'YOU GO!" he screamed at her.

"Down there!" she gasped, pointing at the Ebony-shaped imprint on the floor.

"Why'd you go fucking down there?" he asked exasperatedly, and Ebony pretended not to notice that he was missing several teeth and was bleeding all over her school shirt. Another one ruined.

"I didn't mean to!" she cried, pushing herself away from her over-protective father. She'd never got caught up in one of his fights before; though it was frequent that he got jumped when walking her home from school, she usually had time to scarper and get home safely. Today was an exception, and she had taken a light punch to the centre of her chest, which whipped the wind out of her and rendered her useless on the floor. She felt like she had run into a brick wall, and knew it would hurt a lot more the next day.

"You can't let yourself get hurt, darlin', your mother would kill me," Max told her, looking her over for any injuries she was hiding.

"Yeah, right, she would as well," Ebony laughed, brushing her Dad's fingers away from her face as he prodded at her skin.

"Do you feel woozy? Any pain?" he asked, walking around her and eyeing her suspiciously.

"For heaven's sake dad! No! I'm fine! Can we go now?" she shouted, turning on her heel and storming away from her panicked father. She hated being fussed over at the best of times, even by her Mother. She had a lot of work to catch up on; a certain boy was taking all her attention.

)()()()()(

"You are the most obvious flirt in the world," Ebony's best friend, Nicola, told her over the phone as they chatted after both had eaten their dinner. Ebony had the phone tucked into her neck while she painted her fingernails deftly in a violent shade of fuchsia, while Nicola on the other end of the phone was doodling over the front cover of her Maths work book.

"I am not," Ebony replied with a laugh, blowing on her right fingers to help dry them quicker. "I just don't want Sally Keeting to get her dirty talons into him."

"You know I don't think Steve even likes Queen Bitch," Nicola gossiped, flicking absently through her records as the Queen album came to an end. "So, what you wearing on Friday?" Ebony jumped at the question; the annual school disco was on Friday, and she hadn't even given it a second thought.

"I dunno, clothes I would imagine," she replied, applying a top coat to her nails and then holding them away from her to admire her handiwork.

"You could go starkers; then Steve would fancy you!" Nicola laughed, imagining her conservative friend turning up wearing nothing but a smile and her earrings.

"I don't think so, Nic," Ebony replied doubtfully, blowing on her fingernails to help dry the top coat. She would almost certainly be told to take the nail colour off the next day, but she loved painting her nails. "I need serious input here! Not stupid comments!"

"Hmmm," Nicola said through the phone, mentally rifling through Ebony's wardrobe and drawers – she had done it often enough in real life to know what was where. "How about the red top with the diamanté and the denim skirt?"

"And what part of skin are we bothering to cover in this outfit?" Ebony cracked dryly, pulling the said clothes out of the appropriate places. It was true; the clothes didn't leave a lot to the imagination.

"You are such a prude!" Nicola exclaimed, shaking her head at her friend. "Okay, what about the white pedal pushers?"

"Dad bled on them."

"The denim ones?" Ebony pulled the trousers out of the drawer. They looked okay, not a stain or a mark on them.

"They'll do, I guess," she told her friend, bored silly already of the girly conversation. She pulled her West Ham scrapbook out of her top drawer and began flicking through it absent-mindedly. Nicola was rabbiting on about how certain she was that Steve Dunham and Ebony would fall in love and get married. Then she was on about what to name their kids. Ebony murmured non-committally at points she thought would be appropriate.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Of course I am," Ebony snapped back, sighing a little exasperatedly at her vacuous friend. "So are you getting a lift to the Disco? It is the last one for us; maybe your brother can bring his Pontiac?"

"Nice! I'll ask him, fingers crossed eh?" Nicola paused to take a breath and listen to her friend for a change. Ebony was heading off to Kings College to do her medical degree in a few months, and the fact that she was going to be away from her best friend 5 days a week hurt her deeply. Nicola was herself going to St Tommy's Children's Hospital to do her nurse training, and they often joked about how Ebony would be her boss on a ward. "You know, Ebbs we'll still speak to each other all the time and see each other." Ebony sighed. "It wont be any different, except you wont be able to copy me in English and I wont be able to copy off you in Science!"

"I knew you copied me in that Biology O-Level practice!" Ebony cried, laughing at her friends unsubtleness.

"Oh please, what the hell do I care about the anatomy of an eyeball?"

"Yeah, the only part of Biology you are interested in is the Reproductive System!" Nicola laughed and pretended to be offended.

"You have to admit that the guy in the book has a huge-"

"I get it," Ebony giggled, shaking her head in disbelief at her friends disgusting dirty mind.

"Ebbs, five minutes." Ebony nodded at her Mum and said goodbye to Nicola, hanging up before her friend could object. She threw herself onto her bed and flicked the light off, switching her alarm on. She was both dreading and looking forwards to the disco; maybe it would be alright?

)()()()()(

The disco was already well under way by the time Nicola and Ebony rolled up – 'fashionably late', Nicola called. Damn rude, Ebony called it, but she didn't have a car while Nicola's brother did. A gorgeous Pontiac Firebird in black and red, and if he had supported West Ham, Ebony would have had a huge crush on him. But he was a Chelsea supporter, so that killed that crush stone dead.

"Thanks for the lift," Ebony told him as she pulled her lanky frame out of the small backseat. At least she made it look graceful; Nicola fell out onto her face with a grunt worthy of any tennis player. "Christ, Nic!" Ebony laughed, pulling her friend to her feet by her elbows and steadying her.

"I'm fine!" Nicola exclaimed, her face vaguely resembling a tomato as she brushed her permed hair out of her face. Ebony was still laughing when they checked their coats in, despite Nicola slapping her friend's arms repeatedly and crying that she was 'like soooo embarrassed'. "I need a drink," she told Ebony, steering her by the elbow to the bar in the furthest corner of the hall. They hadn't got very far before Nicola was asked to dance. Ebony shoved her towards the handsome young man and the dance floor, giggling and telling her to enjoy herself.

Ebony stalked to the bar and ordered a pint, checking her watch – the West Ham game would have started by now. "Shit, who's winning?" she asked no one in particular.

"We are, don't worry," Steve told her, standing next to her at the bar. She smiled and laughed a little; at least someone knew. "I checked a couple minutes ago on me car stereo."

"Awesome," she replied. "Want a pint?"

"Shouldn't I be askin' you that?" he said with a smile, and Ebony had to check she hadn't dissolved into a pile of sticky goo on the floor. "Or maybe I'm too late."

"Oh, no I haven't paid for this yet," she said with a smile, her eyes on his bright blue ones. _Shit! SHIT!_ She stepped on her own foot to stop her saying anything stupid.

"Allow me, then," he told her with that smile, pulling out a West Ham wallet from his jacket pocket. Just then, Lay All Your Love on Me by Abba blared over the stereo system.

"Requested by Nicola Stricken for Ebony King and her Knight in Shining Armour," the DJ proclaimed, and Ebony willed the ground to swallow her whole, just as her friends grabbed her to dance.

"I'll be right back, Steve!" she called over her shoulder, her friend's hands on her back and shoulders, dragging and pushing her into the middle of the dance floor, where they all began dancing along to the song they always listened to when they went to each other's houses. But Ebony kept her eyes on Steve the whole time, watching as he lit up a cigarette.

"He wont wander off, ya know!" Samantha told Ebony, nudging her as the two joined hands to spin each other around.

"I'm sure he wont, but I can't keep my damn eyes off him!"

"No change there, then!" Lauren, joining the spinning, said laughing at her friends hopeless crush and the expression on her face. The song came to an end, and Ebony staggered to the bar ignoring her friends asking her to stay and dance a little longer.

"That looked like fun," Steve smirked at her.

"Sod off you, it was as painful as it looked," she told him matter-of-factly, sometimes loathing her friends and their stupid dancing. "I'd rather be at home watching the game than here."

"Ditto, but Terry dragged me," Steve explained, flipping his friend the bird when he came up for air from the bird he was snogging. "Man-whore."

"Crap, he's snogging Sam!" Ebony laughed, shaking her head at her friend's sluttiness. They both laughed at their two friends, and then challenged each other to down their pints (Ebony lost).

"You want to go listen to the last 10 minutes of the game?" Steve asked her after their third pint a piece, and already Ebony's head was beginning to swim.

"Sure, sounds like a plan," she replied with a gentle smile, though her stomach was doing back flips. She chanced a cheeky wave at Nicola, who pretended to be shocked when she saw who her friend was leaving with, then waved back. Ebony could hear the string of questions in her head already: 'First base? Good Kisser? Did he have a big-'

"You okay?" Steve asked, opening the passenger door for her of his car. She had no idea what kind of car it was, and she wasn't much bothered, and she sat cross-legged in the passenger seat, leaning back against the West Ham seat cover. To be fair, the whole car looked like the West Ham Supporters Club Shop had thrown up all over it. Steve jumped in the drivers door and switched the cheap radio head unit on, turning the station to the live coverage of the game.

"And so the final score on the West Ham versus Tottenham stands at..." The announcer took a pause that seemed to last days. "Three-one to the HAMMERS!" Ebony screamed and leapt to her feet outside the car, jumping up and down in her flat shoes. Steve slid across the bonnet and grabbed her waist before kissing her so hard she felt blood in her mouth. Her hands locked around his neck and she settled into the kiss, ignoring how much her lip hurt where she'd bitten it.

"We won!" he cried when they finally broke apart. His jubilant expression turned to worry when he saw the blood trickling down her lip. "Shit are you okay?" Ebony blushed and nodded, wiping the blood off her lip with her fingertip. "Did I do that?"

"No, I just wasn't expecting you to try and find my tonsils quite so violently and I bit my lip," she said, joking plain in her voice. She knew her lip would stop bleeding quickly; the human mouth had a huge capacity for healing. "You could kiss it better?" she said flirtatiously._ What the hell?_ She told herself; _what's the worst that could happen?_ Steve smiled at her and shook his head, advancing on her with a look on his face she couldn't place until she was pinned against the car by his body. The amount of fear she felt sent adrenaline coursing through her and made her shiver even in the warm May evening. His face was close enough that their noses almost touched, and she felt herself press backwards against the car.

"Are you scared?" he asked her quietly, and she gulped loudly and shook her head. "Are you sure?"

"I've met bigger blokes than you that are ten times as scary," she replied, hiding easily behind bravado and smiling at him. His cologne was almost over-powering and she refrained from sneezing, knowing what a mood-killer it would be.

"I could be scary," he growled, and started kissing her neck, pinning her to the car by her hips, and she laughed, gently batting him off. "What?"

"Well, you have a back seat, don't you?" she said flirtatiously, and he almost threw her into the car before following her in.

"OI! Slut bucket!" Ebony jumped awake, head-butted the roof of the car and screeched loudly in shock as she saw Nicola, Sam and Lauren and their dates, which included Terry.

"Fuck. Off." Ebony said loudly, rearranging her clothing so it covered the basics.

"Ebony is a ta-art, Ebony is a ta-art," Nicola chanted, and leapt out of her skin as Ebony jumped for the front door and failed miserably to open it and attack her friend. She instead started slapping Steve, shouting abuse at him until he came round enough for her to instruct him to unlock the door, which he did so and climbed out of the car to receive his slaps on the back from the other boys. Nicola took one look at the mutinous look on Ebony's face and turned to run away, tottering as quick as she could on her high heels. "Ebony King, tart extrodinaire!"

"Shut up!" Ebony yelled back, giving chase and easily catching up in her flat shoes. Nicola paused, threw her shoes into the nearest bush and carried on running.

"Slutty slutty tart taaargh!" She disappeared, falling down a ditch that ran along side the playing field that she'd not spotted. Ebony stood at the top of the ditch, panting and doubled over from the stitch in her side, and looked down at her friend. "Well, fucking help me then!"

"Nu-uh, not until you apologise," Ebony replied, shaking her head and still fighting to catch her breath. Nicola fidgeted and found herself well and truly stuck in the ditch.

"C'mon, help me out!"

"Apologise you tart!" Nicola and Ebony glared at each other before Ebony stuck her hand out to help Nicola out, before being pulled into the ditch herself, the two of them ending tangled up and beginning to slap each other. "You slut!"

"I hate you!"

"Your face looks like a slapped arse!"

"Your brain dissolves when you see Steve!"

"Your pussy goes liquid on command!" At these last insults they both stopped hitting each other and instead stared at one another, shocked to the core.

"My _what _does _what_?" Ebony bit her lip then exploded into laughter, and Nicola soon followed, the pair of them laughing their heads off at one another. "I hate you."

"Nic, I hate you too," Ebony replied, and they fought their way out of the ditch, still laughing gently. Everything would be okay.


	4. Chapter 4

069 – Shattered

Steve grabbed Ebony, shouting something she couldn't hear over the sounds of the brawl around them, and she turned to him, thrumming with adrenaline and a smile on her face. Then, she heard a noise she hated; a father weeping for his son. Her brain switched from GSE to A&E in an instant, and she was pulling Tommy Hatcher off of his son and almost throwing him at Steve.

"Tommy? Tommy, can you hear me?" she said, shaking the boy's shoulders and checking his pulse, which was gradually growing weaker. She knelt beside him and rolled the boy into the recovery position, tilting his head back and holding it in her hand as she felt along his skull, noticing with a jolt that, where there should have been bone, something soft protruded. He coughed suddenly, blood spraying over her arm, and his heart stopped.

She rolled him back onto his back and started doing CPR, pumping his chest and willing him to come back, willing him to flutter his eyes or cough or... Anything. "Please, please, please wake up?" she sobbed, keeping up with the CPR, oblivious to the fact that she was bleeding, that he was brain dead, that Tommy Hatcher was screaming at her. "Wake up!" she shouted, thumping her fist down on the lad's chest and not stopping until Steve pulled her off, where she collapsed to the floor.

"My boy!" Tommy Senior roared, then turned his anger in Ebony's direction. In his rage, he grabbed her by the front of her football shirt and pulled her to her feet, running forwards until her back slammed against the wall. She coughed weakly and he shook her. "Save my boy!" he screamed.

"I can't," she gasped, fighting to breathe, and Tommy shrugged off the members of the GSE and Millwall firms that tried to drag him away. "He's brain dead," she stated, and he grabbed her throat, beginning to squeeze, ignorant to the sirens wailing around him now. Her vision dotted and she started to lose consciousness, almost completely knocked out when he finally dropped her to the floor to return to where his boy lay dead.

"Ebbsy!" She opened her eyes and saw Steve kneeling beside her, dragging her into his arms. "Shit, are you okay?" She shook her head mutely, her eyes now fixed on the huge, sobbing form of Tommy Hatcher, his whole world ripped apart in just a few minutes.

"It's my fault," she croaked, sitting herself up and drawing her knees up to her chest, sitting and watching as paramedics swarmed over the boy, defibrilating his heart and pumping drugs into him while fighting off Tommy Senior. "I should have done something more, I should have tried-"

"Shhh, he's brain dead, Ebbsy; he would have died anyway, right?" Steve cooed, pulling her to him again.

"How can I go on knowing there could have been something I could have done? How can I live with myself?"

"Because you have to," came Steve's reply.


	5. Chapter 5

099 – Friendship

**100 Theme Challenge from deviantArt (information found ****here****)**

**Fandom **– For this part, it's Green Street

**Rating** – PG-15 for swearing

**Characters** – OFC times 2, Steve Dunham

**Disclaimer** – I don't own Green Street, and I'm not making a penny from this. It's all just for fun, I hope you enjoy it.

**Summary** – Friendship can mean the world. Getting back at someone who hurt your friend can mean more than that.

Dedicated to all my friends here on LJ, dA, PC and anywhere else I have friends. I love you guys *sappy*

_**A friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.**_

Nicola had always been Ebony's friend. Ebony remembered that moment at her first day at school when this little bubbly blonde had jumped in front of her wearing a cat mask, meowing loudly. Ebony had jumped and squealed before introducing herself, and since then, they'd been friends.

Their friendship hadn't been without it's problems. In year eight, Ebony had slapped Nicola and called her a slut, to which Nicola had thrown a bottle of paint in the taller girl's face.

That had been a trip to the A&E.

The next day, Ebony walked up to Nicola and punched her in the face. They declared that they were even, and no more was said about it.

When Ebony met Steve, Nicola spent three weeks ignoring her best friend, jealous of the new friend in her life just when Ebony needed a girl friend to talk to. This time, they resorted to the old fashioned cat-fight, bitch slapping one another until the head mistress pulled them apart and suspended both of them for a week. This time, they made up while sitting on the naughty bench (even at 16 the teacher said the naughty bench was suitable), Ebony holding a tissue to the scratch down her arm and Nicola nursing a split lip.

Ebony promised to fight fair next time.

Nicola hated how Ebony fought with Steve in the GSE. It scared her, and pushed her away from her best friend. It would have ruined their friendship, until the day Ebony's violent lifestyle would save both their lives.

A day shopping in the January sales, chatting about the up-coming New Years Eve bash at the Abbey led them to take a wrong turn off Oxford Street. They kept walking, trying to get back to the tube station, but ended up coming up to a dead end. It was then they heard the footsteps behind them, and turned to see the huge, thuggish looking man standing behind them. Nicola was certain that a handing over their handbags and shopping would have diverted his attention, but Ebony had already called him a 'fucking prick' and told him to 'come and get it'. Nicola wished she'd gone to church on Christmas and kissed her boyfriend goodbye, because she was certain she was about to die.

That was before Ebony's deft right hook, sweeping kick to the bloke's knees and triumphant laugh before grabbing Nicola and running for the nearest main road. Nicola then proceeded to slap her friend with her handbag, screaming expletives and crying as she did so. Ebony called her a daft bint and hugged her briefly before strolling down the road like it was another day at the office.

Nicola also remembered the day Ebony had turned up at her front door, crying hysterically and hardly able to speak. Nicola wished that Steve would shrivel up and die, and take his Yankie Bitch new girlfriend with him. Ebony responded with something that could have been a sob or a laugh, and she had agreed with Nicola that certain parts of his anatomy would shrivel up.

Nicola had forgotten that now.

Now as she stood at the end of Ebony's bed and watched her friend drift in and out of consciousness, Steve's hand in Nicola's felt like a welcome human contact and a warmth she needed to feel. She dabbed at her eyes and cursed under her breath when she realised her make up was running, and Steve smiled supportively at her. She didn't like to point out to Steve that the back of his gown was open and he was flashing the old dear in the bed opposite.

_It's your just rewards. Nobody hurts my best friend._


End file.
